EVSC to host Google Apps for Education summit

EVANSVILLE - When a teacher has a great lesson, he or she has the opportunity to make it even greater by using technology as a magnifier, according to Tim Wilhelmus, Innovation, Curriculum and Technology Specialist for the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp.

Any educator that may be leery of technology or not know how to incorporate it into the classrooms will have opportunity to learn more. The EVSC has been chosen by officials from one of the best-known names in Internet search engines, Google, to be the first location in Indiana for the Google Apps for Education Summit.

Wilhelmus said technology expands the exposure teachers have to new information, and can allow educators to bring experts into the classroom or even share it with the world. He said the ICATS team helps teachers find opportunities to bring technology into the classroom.

"It's an amazing opportunity, and I think it speaks well of the things that we've built inside the corporation to support teacher professional development," Wilhelmus said about the Google Summit. "And it takes time to get people familiar with exactly what tools they have at their disposal. It definitely is not an overnight thing."

During the two-day conference, scheduled for Feb. 15-16 at Harrison High School, any teacher is invited to learn how to use and integrate appropriate Google Apps and tools in the classroom including Google Apps Scripts, YouTube for Schools, Google Docs, Gmail power tips and Chromebooks in Education. Other sessions will include two keynote presentations, a demo slam competition and a closing capstone session.

Wilhelmus met Molly Schroeder, Ed Tech Team program chair, at a training for Chromebook and the two started working together to plan an Indiana Google Summit. The Ed Tech Team has been involved in organizing the conferences for almost three years. Last year, there were about 25 summits, while this year more than 50 are scheduled around the world, including California, Hong Kong, South Africa and Japan.

"Google gives education these collaborative tools for free," she said. "A lot of schools are adapting this cloud-based technology — remote servers connected to users through a communication network such as the Internet — because I think in education and technology we're seeing the Web as the platform moving forward, and students need to know how to use cloud-based technology in order to do work."

She explained students home sick can still work on group projects using cloud-based technology because things created using these tools can be accessed anywhere from the cloud. It gives a new meaning to collaborative work, she said.

During the conference, educators will be encouraged to attend informative breakout sessions, demonstrations and hands-on workshops led by experienced and knowledgeable professional developers. People available to aid educators with the tools during the summit include Google Certified Teachers, Google Apps for Education Certified Trainers, practicing administrators, Google engineers and representatives from the Google in Education teams.

Vic Chamness, EVSC director of science, health, PE and digital resources, said people from other school districts have already signed up, including some in Illinois and Kentucky. Chamness is pleased Google chose EVSC to host the conference.

"It's a great example of how we're pulling in international-level resources," he said. "We're looking forward to providing that."

In addition to Google's Summit, the EVSC is hosting a two-day pre-summit Feb. 13-14 at the EVSC's Technology and Innovation Center for interested district educators. Wilhelmus referred to it as a boot camp for teachers wishing to get "the full-on" experience. There is a separate cost for this conference, but those wishing to attend can contact the ICATS or visit their website at http://evscicats.com/.

The ICATS can also help EVSC educators register for the Google Summit, Wilhelmus said, or interested individuals can visit www.sites.google.com/a/gafesummit.com/indiana. According to the website, early bird registration is $249. Wilhelmus noted there is a discount for group registrations.

Technology is already incorporated into many learning techniques within the EVSC, including the one-to-one netbook initiative for grades 6-12 is in its fifth year for high school students and third year for middle school students and Promethean boards available in all school buildings. The district will host its 6th Annual eRevolution Conference July 8-10 at North High School.

"Obviously technology isn't going away," Wilhelmus said. "It changes so rapidly and it's important that education keeps up with that and that we keep students learning because when they leave us and move onto career and college, they need to be prepared to use the most recent technologies and be conversant in those types of skills."